reCareered: How Job Seekers Can Use Opportunity Channels To Find More Interviews

Saturday, June 9, 2007

How Job Seekers Can Use Opportunity Channels To Find More Interviews - page 2

What's An Opportunity Channel?

An opportunity channel, for those who aren't in marketing, is simply a defined place to find opportunities. When there are more jobs than opportunities, unless you are trying to make a tough career change, you might only need to use the easiest and most obvious of these sources. But in today's market, candidates need all the help they can get, and are wise to expand their search to include new channels. Keeping as many lines in the water that produce results is a good tactic in a market where jobs are in short supply.

But what are the major opportunity channels?

The Opportunity Channels Most Candidates Use:

Chances are, you're already using at least two, if not all three of the channels that most candidates use. These are the easy and obvious channels - they can work when there are labor shortages with more jobs than people. But these channels are over competitive in today's market with an over supply of labor:

Job Boards: Job boards are the most obvious channel and therefore the most competitive. Companies who advertise on job boards get candidates that number from the many hundreds to the thousands - for each open position. Even with all this competition, there are ways you can still use job boards to stand out and get noticed ( see http://recareered.blogspot.com/2010/05/3-ways-to-leverage-job-boards-and.html ).
Recruiters: When there is an over supply of jobs, it's easy to just have recruiters present jobs to you. But when jobs are in short supply, a recruiter's job gets more difficult and they are less effective to candidates. However, even in a tough job market, recruiters can still help if you use them effectively ( see http://recareered.blogspot.com/2010/03/inside-track-on-recruiters-top-10-tips.html ).
Close Network: Most candidates close network is comprised of their 50 - 75 closest contacts. These are the friends, neighbors, relatives, ex-coworkers, ex-bosses in a candidates contact list - the people who have been to your house are most likely to recommend you when they hear about an opening. However, this channel is separate from your broader network of work acquaintances, trade show/networking acquaintances, ex-vendors, and social networking acquaintances - the people who you have (at best) a loose relationship with. Most people confuse these two channels and horribly misuse their close network, gaining poor results while risking alienation by asking for help while not providing value. There's a better way to have your close network help you ( see http://recareered.blogspot.com/2010/04/question-of-week-how-should-i-let-my.html ).